


Love is Trying

by creative_smtimes



Category: The Half of It (2020)
Genre: Aster knows, F/F, F/M, Fix-It, I wrote this at 3am because I was upset with the ending, Multi, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Pre-Poly, Trig does not exist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:13:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23963674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/creative_smtimes/pseuds/creative_smtimes
Summary: Better, polyamorous ending for The Half of It.
Relationships: Aster Flores/Paul Munsky, Ellie Chu & Paul Munsky, Ellie Chu/Aster Flores, Ellie Chu/Aster Flores/Paul Munsky
Comments: 48
Kudos: 162





	Love is Trying

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hitotheshounen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hitotheshounen/gifts).



> Trig doesn't exist because even if your partner is an asshole, cheating is not cool, also he literally has no purpose in the story??? Like him being in the movie made Aster just look like an "I will do whatever other people tell me to do"-person, like she was really willing to marry him even though she was bored with him and doesn't even like him in the slightest, like wtf kinda message is that???  
> So, in my version, Aster is just a smart single chick who starts going on dates with Paul but soon figures out that he is not the one writing the love letters to her.

Paul and Aster’s third date at the diner goes significantly better than the first two. They are laughing, talking about football and family, school and music. Ellie is there, too, of course. Outside, in the car, watching.

Ellie sees the chemistry between the two people behind the glass and, despite the jealousy she is obviously feeling, there is something else, another feeling she cannot name that reaches deeper than the gut-twisting desire to be the one sharing that plate of fries with Aster: a feeling of appreciation and love, not just for Aster or even for Paul, it’s a love for Aster-and-Paul, the combination of both; the energy the two create when they’re together makes something inside Ellie feel warm and calm.

An hour goes by as if it was only a minute and Ellie can see the two people she had been watching say goodbye to one another. Shit. She had forgotten to leave before this so that Aster wouldn’t see her.

As Aster and Paul leave the diner, Ellie quickly squeezes into the legroom. She spends about two minutes only with darkness and the sound of her own lungs and heart before Paul opens the door to the driver’s side of the truck and she can finally reemerge again.

“She gave me this,” Paul says as they’re both sitting next to each other again. He is holding an envelope in his hands, one like all the others that he got from Aster.

“So,” Ellie raises her eyebrow, trying to calm the twisting jealously in her stomach, “open it.”

Paul does as he is told and holds the letter between them as he unfolds it so they can read it together.

_“Dear you,_

_I know._

_Thank you for the letters and the texts, Ellie._

_Thank you for the dates and the kisses, Paul._

_I know you both like me._

_Love, Aster.”_

“Fuck. She knows,” Ellie spits out at the same time as Paul blurts “You’re into Aster?”

“Yea…,” Ellie confesses.

They are both still staring at the letter but now their eyes slowly move to find the other’s.

“But…?” Paul starts.

“What do we do now?”

“I don’t know!” Paul shrugs.

“‘Love, Aster’,” Ellie quotes. “Why does she not sound like she’s mad at us?”

“Ellie?” Paul’s eyes look past his friend, through the car window to the parking lot.

“Hm?” Ellie turns around.

Aster is standing there, leaning against a wall, smiling. She motions her hand, a gesture that tells them to get out of the car and come to her.

Without a second thought, because neither of them knows what else to do, they oblige.

“You’re both into me,” Aster states again as the two friends are only ten feet away from her.

“Yea…,” Ellie mumbles only half a beat before Paul.

Nobody says anything for a few seconds, making the tension and uncertainty in the air almost unbearable.

That’s when Aster pushes herself off of the wall, takes three steps forward – and kisses Paul.

Both feelings, negative and positive, from earlier explode inside Ellie as her mouth falls open and her eyes begin to water. Ellie already feels like too many things are happening at once when Aster lets go of Paul, steps over in front of the other girl, uses her hand to close the agape mouth and presses their lips together. Ellie’s eyes fall shut as she tries to savor the moment – Aster’s smell, touch and taste all there against her – while her left eyelash pushes out a small tear.

“What is happening?” Paul breaths out next to them as Aster pulls away a few seconds later.

“I knew it was Ellie that was writing them after about the second letter, well, I guessed it then but after our first date I knew,” Aster explains, taking a step back from Ellie again so that they are positioned in an almost perfect triangle. “But I thought it was cute and I wanted to see what would happen and – I fell for you…”

Nervous Aster doesn’t look people in the eyes, Ellie notes in this moment where this fact is more than unfavorable. Paul shoots her a quick look but Ellie doesn’t know either which one of them Aster’s words were meant for.

Aster chuckles as she notices their shared look. “Both of you, you morons,” she explains. “Like I just said in that last letter," – she points at the life-changing piece of paper in Paul's hand – "Ellie, I fell for your words in the letters and Paul, I fell for your boldness during our second date!”

“So you’re into both of us?” Paul asks, just to clarify he is reading the situation correctly.

“Yep,” Aster smiles.

“And we’re both into you…,” Ellie adds.

“Apparently…” Aster is smiling so brightly it is almost painful to look at because of how beautiful it makes her look. “So, you think we can make this work?” She asks, adventure and curiosity in her eyes.

“The three of us…? All three?” Paul asks, still a bit overwhelmed and not quite understanding yet.

An idea pops into Ellie’s mind, a quote from not so long ago. “Love is the trying.”


End file.
